1. Field
The subject matter disclosed herein relates to mobile electronic devices, and, more particularly, to methods, apparatuses, and/or articles of manufacture that may be used to align a user's outdoor path of movement with an indoor routing graph.
2. Information
The Global Positioning System (GPS) and other like satellite positioning systems (SPSs) have enabled navigation services for mobile handsets in outdoor environments. However, since satellite signals may not be reliably received and/or acquired in an indoor environment, different techniques may be employed to enable indoor navigation services. For example, a mobile device may typically obtain a position estimation by measuring ranges to three or more terrestrial wireless access points that may be positioned at known locations. Such ranges may be measured, for example, by obtaining a media access control identification (MAC ID) address from signals received from access points and measuring one or more characteristics of signals received from access points such as, for example, signal strength and round trip delay, just to name a couple of examples.
In some implementations, an indoor navigation system may provide a digital electronic map to a mobile device as the device enters an indoor area. Such a map may present indoor features such as doors, hallways, entryways, walls, etc. A digital electronic map of an indoor area, which may be obtained through selection of a universal resource locator (URL) accessible by a mobile device, for example, may also show points of interest (POIs) such as restaurants, cafés, stores, kiosks, restrooms, etc. Upon request by a user, a mobile device may overlay a routing graph on a digital map to show one or more possible user paths from a current location, for example, to one or more POIs. Thus, by presenting a digital map, and a routing graph overlaid upon a digital map, a mobile device user may be apprised of his or her current location and obtain directions from a current location to one or more POIs.
However, in many indoor locations, such as indoor parking structures that may adjoin with shopping malls, airports, stadiums, theaters, and other establishments, indoor mobile device positioning services and/or digital electronic maps may not be available. In such instances, especially upon returning to a particular location of a parking garage at the conclusion of an event, for example, a mobile device user may spend excessive time searching for a vehicle or other location as the user attempts to exit the parking structure and return home. These situations can represent sources of frustration as tired shoppers, concertgoers, and other mobile device users try and remember markers that may help guide them through a parking structure to specific locations without the benefit of mobile device positioning assistance.